420EX Recycle times

My first attempt at event photography was marred by a battery snafu. I noticed during the event my speedlight took 30 seconds (I've since timed it) to charge up before it was ready to fire again.

Since then I loaded new Duracell Procell barreries and now it's 5 seconds.

What times do you get out of your speedlight?

You need to have a few sets of good, [B]charged[/]b NiMH batteries, like Energiser. Not sure of 420 specs, but 7 seconds from a full charge is the max i'd expect. If you need it faster get a 550 or 580EX and a CP-E3, full charge time is 2sec. I shoot flash at ISO400 or sometimes 800, that means less flash power is required and things charge faster.